Rare Colonial Court Documents Found on eBay

Too often, what seems like a fun collectible actually belongs in an archive. But for an object to make the transition from store shelf to archival box, someone needs to recognize its importance. As the Times Union’s Paul Grondahl reports, a rare Revolutionary War-era ledger was recently discovered on eBay—and thanks to a historian’s keen eye, it’s now safe in an archive instead of a private collection.

Tricia Barbagallo, a Colonial historian, found the documents when she randomly typed the search term “1772 Albany” into eBay, Grondahl reports. There, she found a Revolutionary War-era ledger from an Albany County justice of the peace that never ended up in county archives.

The sale was against New York state law, which requires that significant records be retained, not sold. Every state has records retention laws, though they vary from state to state.

Then as now, New York justices of the peace handled lower-level crimes and disputes and officiated marriages. The ledger offers a rare glimpse into New York on the brink of Revolutionary War. Matthew Adgate, the justice, was what historian John L. Brooke called a “powerful [fixture] in the politics of the new state” and was involved in resisting the Crown and drafting New York’s new constitution.

When Barbagallo alerted authorities, they investigated the seller, a Vermont dealer. Then they tracked down the private collector who bought the piece and the documents were turned over to the Albany County Hall of Records.

It’s not the first time historical records that should be in an archive were spotted on eBay. ...